Extraordinary things can be done with drones, whether they are used as tools in the service of artistic performances or to photograph landscapes from an unusual vantage point. Aerial photographs are mysterious, if for no other reason than the fact that one immediately realizes that the eye with which landscapes are viewed is more impersonal. The aerial gaze looks like that of an omniscient narrator in novels. The angles from which you look down are unrepeatable, except aboard a flying vehicle, furthering the fascination behind the photographic adventure.

To celebrate this photographic technique in Siena took place the awards ceremony of the Drone Photo Awards, an important international photographic competition. Professional photographers, amateurs and amateurs, during the competition can submit images made by drones, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, hot air balloons, blimps, kites and parachutes. The Drone Photo Awards is part of the Siena Award Festival and will end with the exhibition “Above Us Only Sky”, set up from Oct. 23 to Dec. 5 in Siena’s Museum of Natural History.

The winning image of 2021 is that of photographer Terje Kolaas, who participated in the flight of pink-footed geese in the skies over Norway. All the other winning aerial photographs in the nine categories, divided according to the subjects depicted, will also be exhibited in Siena: sport, wedding, nature, urban, people, animals, abstract, series, videos.